Jia Louluo often wondered why, despite never having done anything particularly evil in his life, he ended up with such an unlucky older brother. It was truly perplexing.
However, having practiced Buddhism for so long, he was a firm believer in karma. Thinking back, he couldn’t recall committing any major sins in this life, so perhaps in a past life, he had massacred Maha’s entire family and owed him five million, and was now repaying that immense fraternal debt.
With a petrified sea snake coiled around his head, Jia Louluo expressionlessly left the Blood Sea, passed through the spatial barrier, and arrived at the other end, where the Blood Sea connected to the Demon Path. The Demon King’s Palace wound majestically along the double Iron Wheel Mountains, so vast that its end couldn’t be seen even from a great distance.
He tossed the snake back into the Blood Sea, transformed into a golden-winged great roc, and, under the gaze of countless demons, flew across the sea and the crystal avenue, landing on the high tower of the demon palace. He found a place with an open view, transformed into human form, and sat down.
Jia Louluo, a divine child who had grown up in the high-altitude snow mountains, found it difficult to adapt to the harsh environment of the Four Evil Paths. The pervasive strong smell of blood in the air hindered his breathing, making him sleepless, and he couldn’t even eat the sea snake meat from the Blood Sea. When the Phoenix came to the Demon Realm and saw him, it immediately suggested he return to the snow mountains, but Jia Louluo refused.
He didn’t know why he stayed there. After living in a fragmented family for so long, he surprisingly felt a little unwilling to leave.
“Mother?” Jia Louluo turned his head.
Chu He walked along the moonstone tiles, making creaking sounds on the rooftop. He came before Jia Louluo and reached out to ruffle his second son’s messy short hair.
“Where’s your brother?”
“He was in the Blood Sea just now. Demon King led vengeful spirits to the Human Realm. He followed them to watch the fun when they passed through the Blood Sea.” Jia Louluo paused, then added, “It’s not necessarily to… eat humans.”
Chu He let out an almost silent sigh, sat down beside his second son, and squinted at the gloomy sky in the distance.
Jia Louluo couldn’t help but whisper, “Maha’s hair has turned completely silver. Eating humans is mainly to delay the symptoms of the Five Decays of Heavenly Beings, isn’t it? Actually, he’s been quite restrained lately, only eating what the demons leave behind. He also knows that if he keeps eating like this, he’ll soon get struck by lightning again…”
Chu He pulled a paper packet from his jeans pocket. Inside was a small handful of reddish dried grass. He gave half a handful to Jia Louluo and twisted the rest into his own mouth, beginning to chew.
“What is this?” Jia Louluo asked curiously.
“Demon Realm tobacco, for refreshment.”
Jia Louluo tasted it. It had a strong bitter initial taste, but after chewing a dozen times, an indescribably sweet flavor slowly spread from the back of his tongue.
He had tasted local tobacco in Nepal; it wasn’t as hard to swallow as this, but the aftertaste wasn’t as rich and lingering. And indeed, his mind quickly cleared, and the fatigue from several sleepless nights was significantly reduced.
“I will give Maha another divine status,” Chu He said, “but not now.”
Jia Louluo couldn’t help but ask, “When will that be?”
Chu He looked at him deeply.
It was a strange thing: Maha’s features, while similar to the Phoenix’s, were even sharper. Yet, a cold and eerie quality flowed in his brows and eyes at all times, sometimes even bringing to mind a snake—that kind of beautiful, evil snake that seemed ready to suddenly appear behind you and deliver a fatal kiss.
But the Phoenix, in its gentleness, also possessed an aura of majesty, with beautiful, noble, and inviolable eyes.
Could the difference between a battle-proven king and one who achieved perfect merit upon birth really cause such a significant postnatal difference? Jia Louluo couldn’t help but secretly wonder, imagining the Peacock Mahamayuri in a kasaya seated on a lotus, but what first came to his mind was Maha running wildly in a vacuum across mountains and plains, and all thoughts vanished instantly.
“How much merit do you still owe?” Chu He didn’t answer Jia Louluo’s question but suddenly asked.
“…I don’t owe… anything, I suppose,” Jia Louluo thought for a moment. “My incense offerings were never much to begin with.”
“I don’t owe much either, but Maha has repaid almost nothing. He needs to prostrate and chant scriptures for at least a thousand years to offset his current karmic debt. If he returns to divine status now, his incense offerings will become even more abundant, but if he doesn’t change his evil habit of eating humans, he’ll soon invite another thunder tribulation.”
Jia Louluo thought to himself that Maha’s human-eating was his nature and almost impossible to change—the best solution for him was to live permanently in Hell, where the Blood Sea could be at his disposal, and it would be better if he didn’t go to the Human Realm.
“Wait, Mother,” Jia Louluo suddenly realized, “You mean you’re going to make Maha repay his current karmic debt, and then take the Demon Lord’s…”
Chu He raised his index finger, silencing Jia Louluo instantly.
“The Demon King’s Palace is Fan Luo’s eighth consciousness,” he said. “Don’t speak carelessly.”
Jia Louluo nodded, then frowned, thinking that if this was the case, did his mother intend to wait in Hell for Maha to repay a thousand years of debt before acting against the Demon Lord, and only then return to the Human Realm to reunite with his father?
That was too miserable. His father would first come with bombers to flatten Hell, then seize Maha and strangle him to death.
“It won’t take that long,” Chu He, as if seeing through his thoughts, said with bright, deep eyes, “In seven days, Fan Luo will lead the Hell demons to the Human Realm to release death qi, and I will accompany them…”
Jia Louluo realized something, his pupils widening slightly.
Chu He didn’t explain further, simply placing his hands on Jia Louluo’s shoulders and examining him carefully. For the first time in so many years, he looked at his younger son so seriously, so solemnly, not even missing the tiniest detail—this handsome young man who had grown up without him even realizing it.
Children always grow up so fast, he thought.
No matter how many long years pass, in their parents’ eyes, they always seem to have suddenly grown into adults in an instant, as if by a mere puff of breath.
Now, remembering the impulse he had when his children were just born, wanting to hang his entire being on them, that fervent, abnormal tenderness, it seemed to have transformed into a deeper, heavier, and at the same time, calmer parental love during thousands of years of family life. He was still willing to sacrifice himself to protect his children, but that extreme, reckless emotion seemed to belong to a past life.
He finally began to realize that children had their own future paths to walk, and perhaps their destined person was hesitating and waiting around the corner. And as a parent, he had his own fully unfolded life, and he also had someone waiting for him in the distance.
“What are you thinking?” Jia Louluo asked subconsciously.
“Nothing,” Chu He smiled slightly, patting his spiky hair, finding it felt very much like Zhou Hui’s hair after applying two kilograms of hair gel.
The hairstyle Zhou Hui spent half an hour wrestling with in front of the mirror every morning, his son naturally had.
Jia Louluo was about to ask something else, but then Chu He gave his head a firm pat, stood up, and said, “Go back to the Human Realm. Don’t go to the Tibetan snow mountains. Go to Beijing and find your father.”
“…Huh?”
“Fan Luo’s ability to freely travel through the Six Realms doesn’t just rely on his divine status as a Great Demon King of the Four Evil Paths, but also on a barrier that can erode space. In other words, his ability to travel freely only works within the range of his barrier.” A playful expression flashed in Chu He’s eyes. “Your father is so arrogant towards the Demon Lord. His shouting about sealing the Demon Lord is just to appease the Heavenly Dao; he’s never seriously thought about how to solve Fan Luo’s ability to freely travel the Six Realms… I’ve advised him many times to study more demon-banishing theories, but he never listens.”
Jia Louluo seemed to understand something, but then he saw Chu He turn and walk back the way he came, stepping on the large expanse of moonstone tiles, the creaking sounds accompanying him.
“Wait!” Jia Louluo suddenly took two steps forward. “But you’ve lost your original body, and Maha is suffering from the Five Decays. I must stay to help you—”
“No,” Chu He said gently. “Go back. You’ve done enough for your brother. And parents’ problems are parents’ problems. Sometimes, you have to trust the adults’ capabilities.”
It’s unclear how Chu He communicated with the Demon Lord, or perhaps he said nothing at all, but the Demon Lord himself was wary of this young man who bore such a strong resemblance to his mortal enemy and didn’t particularly want him to remain in Hell for long. In any case, Jia Louluo faced no obstacles when leaving the Four Evil Paths; even Maha didn’t show up to say anything.
This was quite normal. Maha’s daily energy was consumed by tormenting himself in the Blood Sea and delaying the onset of his decay. Jia Louluo suspected it would take at least three more days for him to even notice his disappearance.
Beijing, long-distance bus station.
Jia Louluo jumped off the bus, scanning his surroundings as he landed.
He carried an old travel bag, wore a gray hooded sweatshirt, jeans that outlined his strong, long legs, and his face, except for his eyes, was tightly covered with yellowish bandages. He wore fingerless black leather gloves.
This attire made him look somewhat like a peculiar migrant worker, or perhaps a terrorist with a backpack ready to bomb the station. People kept turning to look at him along the way, but he seemed completely oblivious.
“Hey, you there, stop!” Two patrolling police officers noticed something amiss and immediately approached Jia Louluo, blocking him from both sides, watching him warily. “Where are you from? What’s wrong with your face? Do you have ID?”
Passersby frequently turned their heads. Jia Louluo was startled and took off his backpack, starting to rummage for his ID.
He searched for a long time but couldn’t find it. The fake ID and scattered cash Chu He had arranged for him were wrapped in a small cloth and tucked into an inner layer of his backpack. Now, that inner pocket was empty, with an almost imperceptible knife mark at its deepest point.
Jia Louluo: “…”
Jia Louluo had never encountered a thief in his life. He hadn’t expected that even a golden-winged great roc could be pickpocketed in this day and age, and he was momentarily dumbfounded.
The patrol officers exchanged glances, their tone growing a few shades more serious. “Young man, what’s your name?”
“…Jia Louluo.”
The police thought, “Are you from a minority group? What kind of strange name is that?” “What’s wrong with your face?”
“Photophobia.”
…What’s with photophobia? Can’t you come up with a more coherent excuse! The officer on the left began to wave to his colleagues nearby for backup, while the other scanned Jia Louluo with undisguised vigilance. “Young man, where are you from?”
Jia Louluo, however, was very straightforward: “From Tibet, looking for my father.”
“Who is your father? Which unit does he work for?”
This was the last straw that broke the camel’s back.
Jia Louluo said, “Ministry of State Security.”
Five minutes later, Jia Louluo was escorted into a police car, which sped away with sirens wailing.
Police station.
Jia Louluo sat obediently on a chair. Two police officers sat opposite him, scrutinizing him up and down with unconcealed vigilance. His backpack lay open in the center of the table.
The contents of the backpack were spread out—scriptures, scriptures, scriptures, and a string of sandalwood prayer beads.
“This young man isn’t reselling Buddhist artifacts, is he?” said one officer.
Voices drifted in from outside the door:
“Our director’s youngest son, too deeply influenced by his family, went to Tibet to study Buddhism since he was a child… It’s all the fault of irresponsible second births, parents favoring the older child and neglecting the younger… No, no, they probably won’t have a third child. Another boy and our director would jump into the river, wouldn’t he? How can they afford to buy a house and find a wife in Beijing with such high housing prices these days!”
The deputy director ushered two men in black into the room, saying sympathetically, “Yes, that’s right. If you don’t have the means, don’t have a second child. If you can’t raise them well, don’t have them.”
Jia Louluo: “…?”
“These two are comrades from the Peking University Religious Research Institute. This young man’s father sent them to pick him up.” The deputy director introduced, pointing to the two men in black. The police officers stood up to greet them, and the men in black immediately offered cigarettes, a whole pack of special-supply “Little Panda” brand. “Sorry, sorry, we’ve caused you trouble with your work. We’ll take the child now…”
Both sides politely deferred, one saying “no need, no need,” the other insisting “yes, please.” After a few back-and-forths, the police officers contentedly accepted two packs of “Little Panda” each. The two men in black turned to look at Jia Louluo, and their mouths clearly twitched when they saw his bandaged face. “Old Zhou… Teacher Zhou asked us to come pick you up. He’s waiting outside in the car.”
Jia Louluo narrowed his eyes.
When his gaze was completely blank, it was unnoticeable, but with any expression, Zhou Hui’s shadow was clearly visible. Especially the deep brow bones and eye sockets, and that sharp, calm gaze, were as if cast from the same mold.
He stood up, packed his backpack from the table, and walked out. When he slung the bag over his back, his arm showed obvious muscle definition.
The two team members saw his heavily bandaged attire and old backpack and thought to themselves, no wonder he was arrested as a terrorist. If he were to walk into Tiananmen Square looking like that, it would be a miracle if the patrol police didn’t stop him on the spot and handcuff him to the ground.
Jia Louluo walked out of the police station. A silver Lexus was parked at the bottom of the steps. Zhou Hui, in a motorcycle leather jacket and sunglasses, leaned against the car door, lighting a cigarette. Seeing his son come out, he waved.
“How did you get arrested?”
Jia Louluo walked down the steps, standing a step away from Zhou Hui. He said blandly, “My money and ID were stolen.”
The father and son, who hadn’t seen each other for centuries, looked at each other at close range. Although Jia Louluo’s face was covered, his face shape, hair, and physique were incredibly similar to his father’s. Especially that aura of deep calm when not speaking, in their evenly matched confrontation, it gave a very confusing yet familiar sense of similarity.
Zhou Hui was still very young, but Jia Louluo was already a teenager of seventeen or eighteen. When facing each other, they didn’t look like father and son, but rather like a mature alpha wolf and a young, strong challenger confronting each other in a wolf pack.
On the steps, the two team members walked out of the police station and instinctively paused.
After a moment, one of them hesitated, “Team Leader…”
Zhou Hui suddenly grinned, flicked away the long cigarette butt that had formed in his hand, and, with the cigarette still in his mouth, pulled out a pack and offered one to Jia Louluo. “Hmm?”
Jia Louluo took the cigarette but didn’t light it. He said, “I came to tell you that the Demon Lord will invade the border in a few days.”
Zhou Hui said, “I know.”
“And Mother knows how to deal with the Demon Lord’s ability to travel through the Six Realms.”
Zhou Hui paused in his movements. He saw Jia Louluo lower his head and sniff the cigarette, seemingly uninterested, then casually tossed it into a drain by the sidewalk.
“…” Zhou Hui scanned his son up and down, then said coldly after a moment, “Get in the car and talk.”
This was Jia Louluo’s first time in a car since his birth. After getting in, he meticulously examined the instruments on the dashboard and the steering wheel in the driver’s seat, seemingly developing a great interest.
Zhou Hui casually asked a few questions about the Demon Path. Jia Louluo summarized what he knew, keeping his words concise, and finally said, “Maha has already shown symptoms of the Five Decays. Mother told me not to stay in Hell and to come find you in the Human Realm.”
Zhou Hui hummed expressionlessly.
Jia Louluo couldn’t help but turn his head to look at him.
“What’s wrong?” Zhou Hui asked indifferently.
“…I thought you would ask how Mother was doing in the Demon King’s Palace…”
Zhou Hui turned to his second son, his narrow, deep eyes slightly narrowed.
His eye sockets were naturally deep, his eyelids not very prominent, and his gaze had the focused quality peculiar to an archer. When his gaze was fixed intently on something, it gave a piercing sensation like a sharp arrow.
“How your mother and I are is our own business. Parents have problems only parents can solve. Besides, no amount of worthless concern can change the Phoenix’s current situation, so you don’t need to tell me.”
After Zhou Hui finished speaking, he turned his head and closed his eyes, leaning back against the leather seat.
Jia Louluo stared blankly at his father, completely failing to understand the origin of his father’s confrontational and intense emotions. After a long moment, he turned his head blankly to look forward, and once again felt the urge to ask his father for some travel money and leave, returning to the Demon King’s Palace to be with his mother.
However, Zhou Hui’s act of unleashing the pent-up anger of many days on his son immediately brought retribution.
—This was Jia Louluo’s first time riding in a car in over a thousand years. He was already a bit uncomfortable after several hours of bumpy travel on the long-distance bus, and the crowded Beijing city traffic, with its stop-and-go nature, further exacerbated his dizziness.
Finally, after a slow, stop-and-go drive, they reached the gray iron gate of State Security Unit 547. Zhou Hui expressionlessly turned to his son, just about to lecture him, when Jia Louluo suddenly clapped a hand on his shoulder and groaned in pain, “Dad…”
Zhou Hui paused, confused. The next second, like a heavenly maiden scattering flowers, Jia Louluo retched all over him.
